Susan Amara

Susan G. Amara is an American professor of neuroscience and is the Scientific Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

[6] Her main research interests are the parts of the brain that get activated when people take certain addictive drugs, specifically attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) medicine (Adderall and Ritalin), cocaine, and antidepressants.

Amara's laboratory examined the impact of psychostimulant and antidepressant drugs on the signaling properties, physiology and regulation of two families of sodium-dependent neurotransmitter transporters, which are the biogenic amine and the excitatory amino acid carriers.

She argued in favor of funding by citing past successful NIH-funded projects that helped researchers find new ways to treat mental health and neurological disorders.

She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology and is on the editorial boards of several journals; the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.